Amazon considering charging subscription for AI-integrated Alexa

What is known about the Alexa subscription

According to Reuters sources, the monthly fee for accessing the superior version of the voice assistant would be around five dollars.

“We’ve already integrated generative AI into different components of Alexa and are hard at work deploying it at scale — across the more than 500 million Alexa-enabled devices already in homes around the world — to enable even more proactive, personal, and trusted assistance for our customers,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in a statement.

However, so far there is no official information issued by Amazon announcing official prices or release dates.

Some Amazon employees who have worked on the project say it represents a “desperate attempt” to revitalize the service, which has never turned a profit and was caught off guard amid the rise of competing generative AI products over the past 18 months.

According to Reuters, those people said senior management had told them that this year is critical for the service to finally prove it can generate significant sales for Amazon.